by Salkeld, J J
‘No prosecutions, two cautions for Terry and one for each of his boys.’
‘Exactly. It means that we can’t use any of that, because the defence would simply ask why Terry wasn’t charged, if he’d been committing all these offences. The irony is they’d argue that all those call-outs and no prosecutions prove that Terry had done nothing wrong. They’d cast doubt on Eleanor’s reliability and character, and to be honest it would make things even worse for Charlie Coward as well. You know how this would go; Charlie would end up looking like the criminal here. So, realistically, all you could use is the events of the day or two before Eleanor’s death. And do you see enough there to charge him?’
‘No I don’t. If only Nobby hadn’t got pulled away when he was just about to nick Terry and his mates. Another ten minutes and Terry would be safely away on remand now, and Eleanor would still be alive.’
Hall nodded. ‘That’s quite probably true. But it’s not anyone’s fault, is it? You know how stretched we are. As soon as something kicks off everything else stops, because there’s no slack in the system any more. All uniform was doing was responding to what the bosses wanted, and you know they’re never going to carry the can.’
‘Sloping shoulders with braid on.’
‘Exactly. But I think the Super’s in a bit of trouble over Alison Thornton.’
‘Really? I assumed he’d have someone lined up to take the blame.’
‘Nope. She approached him direct, and he short-circuited the usual procedures. He’s banged to rights apparently, and Val Gorham is gunning for him. They’ve both been after the same job apparently. The way I hear it, he might be asked to retire, or face disciplinary charges.’
‘Shit. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke though, eh?’
Hall pulled a face. ‘Be careful what you wish for, Ian.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Have you thought about who we might get if Robinson does go?’
Hall watched Mann as the penny dropped.
‘Not Gorham? I thought she was lined up for some cushy number at HQ.’
‘She was, especially with Robinson out of the way. But apparently the Chief has told her that she needs more operational experience, and that a year or two out of HQ would do her good.’
‘Oh bugger. He should think about what it would do to us for a change. Good isn’t the word that springs to mind.’
‘He doesn’t have to think about us. That’s what his superintendents are for, in theory anyway.’
‘So how much operational experience does she have?’
‘Not a lot, and nothing in CID. But I hear she’s dynamite with a spreadsheet, and her buck passing is second to none. You know as well as I do that the pen pushers shall inherit the earth. They probably already have.’
‘Don’t tell me she’s religious as well?’
‘As far as I know she’s not, so that’s something, but don’t take that as gospel. I think she probably only really believes in PACE and the transcendent importance of a crisply creased trouser.’
‘You’ll get on famously then, boss.’
‘What do you mean? This is my best suit. Barely been worn.’
‘It’s your only suit. But with Jane on the scene I expect you’ll be smartening yourself up, whether you like it or not.’
Mann grinned, and Hall changed the subject.
‘So, the Eleanor Barrow file. You agree that there’s no way forward in terms of a prosecution?’
Mann nodded. ‘There are things that I hate about this job. You sort of forget when you’re off work.’
‘I do know what you mean. But if it’s any consolation Terry Walker is top of everyone’s wanted list in this place. You know what he’s like. He’ll try to lie low for a while, keep out of our way and Alan Frostick’s too, but it won’t last. And as soon as he steps out of line we’ll hit him with everything we can. I know it’s not much, but...’ Hall tailed off. He wasn’t even convincing himself.
‘No, you’re right. I wasn’t expecting anything really.’ Mann got up to go.
‘Hang on a second, Ian. This will make you laugh. Nobby came to see me after his shift a couple of days back. Terry Walker only wanted to grass up Frostick in return for the full package.’
‘What? Change of identity, new house, money, the lot?’
‘Yes indeed. I don’t think he quite understands what we’d expect in return for that.’
‘He thinks a street corner pusher would be enough? That kind of intel wouldn’t buy him a weekend for one in a caravan in Millom these days.’
‘I know, but what from what Nobby was saying it sounds as if Frostick might have upped his game a bit. Walker’s lads are working for him now, and it sounds like he might be moving gear on his own account.’
‘Really? I hadn’t heard that. You think he’s worth a look?’
‘Yes, I do. Let’s see if we can get Frostick put on the target list with intelligence, and that would buy you a bit of time to have a look at him as well. Preliminary, background, you know the sort of thing.’
‘What about Terry? Are you going to play him along a bit? Get him on a promise and see what he says?’
‘It’s tempting, I’ll admit that. But it’s not going to happen. First of all because Terry would rumble me straight away if I tried it on. He’s been in here so often that he knows how we work. And second I need to try to trace Alison Thornton. That’s my priority, has to be.’
‘Still away then?’
‘She could be anywhere. Her car was found, on false plates, in southern Scotland yesterday. It had been broken into and that brought it to our attention, otherwise it’d have sat there for months. But she’s long gone, and without her Merseyside won’t lay a finger on Cafferty.’
‘I hear his brother’s out as well?’
‘Yes, just rubs it in, doesn’t it? Billy’s cockier than ever apparently, and Tony says that he’s put the word out on Alison. That’s for definite. Tony’s heard it from a source of his own, and he had word from a mate in the Met as well.’
‘The Met?’
‘Billy’s quite the crime lord these days apparently, and it’s a reasonable guess that Alison is in London. So he’s probably put the word out nationally.’
‘What are her chances?’
‘Of keeping away from Billy’s boys? Well she got away from us all right, and that wasn’t easy. So if she’s sensible, and realises that Billy will be looking for her too, then she should be OK. The main thing is that if they gave her a credit card, a bank account or a mobile, anything like that, then they will use them to track her down. So she needs to get rid of them, and manage without any support from Cafferty.’
‘And can she?’
‘Well you could, Ian. You’d just eat hedgehogs and live in a ditch for a few months, wouldn’t you?’
‘My idea of a holiday, mate’ said Mann, laughing.
‘But we don’t all have your training and love of the great outdoors, do we? So I’d say she’s looking at 50/50, tops. Her best bet would be to give herself up, claim coercion, grass up Murphy and Cafferty too if she’s ever had any direct contact with him, which I doubt. With a bit of luck she might end up getting a deal, you never know.’
‘Then she’d be living like Williams for the rest of her life.’
‘True, but she’d improve her odds of staying alive. And some people do still have faith in our ability to protect them you know, whatever the evidence to the contrary. Maybe she’s a trusting sort of soul.’
‘Simple, more like.’
‘Anyway, I got the Press Office to put a statement out, appealing to her to give herself up, and making it clear that we have concerns for her safety. You never know, it might get her thinking.’
Alison Thornton had been doing her best to stay calm, but it was getting harder and harder. She was waking regularly in the night, usually from nightmares in red and black, and she couldn’t help but get up, pull the edge of the curtains back, and scan the street below. She hadn’t se
en anything, but that hadn’t really helped. The shadows could be full of anything.
The daytime wasn’t much better. In some ways it was actually worse. Alison didn’t want to go out at all, but she knew that she had to, especially if she was going to work out a way of coming up with a new identity for herself. So she set out for another library, using a cab that she’d called to the end of the street, and set about doing her research. After half an hour she gave in to temptation and searched on her own name. They couldn’t be monitoring everyone who did that, because she’d been in the news.
Sure enough most of the links were to news sites covering the fact that she was wanted in connection with the killing of Neil Williams, but the fifth link down was from the day before, and she saw DI Andy Hall’s name mentioned. She read the quote from him. It was just a couple of sentences, and she could almost hear his calm voice saying it, so she read it again. He struck her as being a decent man. So did he really believe she was at risk, or was it just a tactic to get her to give herself up? And when he mentioned protection what did he mean? Protection in prison, or some kind of witness protection?
Alison closed the browser, and for the first time in her life she was grateful that both her parents were dead. Watching her father’s last illness, and seeing her mum having to sell the house and ending up with nothing had been hard. Especially because she was sure it was that which had brought on her mum’s heart attack. Maybe that’s what had tempted her into taking Pat Murphy’s offer. He made it sound so easy, and half the money was paid up front. He’d said it didn’t matter if she found anything out about Williams or not.
She had been unbelievably stupid to believe him though, because soon after she arrived in Kendal he really started to increase the pressure. He told her that they knew for certain that Williams was living somewhere in the area, he’d been seen by two different people, and that with the re-trial coming up Alison would have to get the information for him, and quickly. She’d asked what would happen if she couldn’t get the information in time. In that case the ‘craftsman’ who Murphy said had been recruited to take care of Williams would be given instructions to kill her instead. ‘He is very quick’ Murphy had said pleasantly, ‘you won’t even see him coming. He won’t drag it out either, so there won’t be too much pain.’
When she got back to the flat Alison made a coffee, but left it undrunk and went into the bedroom. She got into bed, fully clothed, and found herself shivering. Eventually she slept for an hour, and woke from another bad dream. She remembered a man’s face, smiling at her, and him saying ‘I’ve killed you.’ Then she looked down, and all she could see was her blood on the ground, forming a widening puddle in front of her.
Friday, 24th May
Usually Andy Hall didn’t put things off. He couldn’t see the point. But he hadn’t contacted Gill, and he knew that he needed to. So he texted her, suggesting they meet for a coffee, and heard nothing back for a day or two. But when he turned on his phone on Friday morning there was a text back, suggesting they meet at lunchtime in town.
When he got to work he showed Jane the text.
‘I want to clear the air’ he said.
‘Are you going to suggest that she carries on as a Special?’
‘Well yes, but I’ll mention that she could be based at another station if she preferred.’
‘I’m not sure what you feel guilty about, Andy. You’d barely even begun a relationship with her.’
Hall looked uncomfortable.
‘It’s funny, that you spend your life working with people who don’t give a shit what effect their actions have on others, yet you’d feel guilty if you trod on an ant.’
‘Only if it was deliberate, be fair.’
Jane laughed. ‘Don’t give me that. You feel guilty about things you haven’t even done.’
‘I’m like most people, I probably feel guilty about the wrong things. I don’t even notice the harm I do sometimes.’
‘So you think she’s pining for you?’ Jane smiled. ‘Is that it, Mr. lover-lover?’
‘She’s an intelligent woman. It’s only natural.’
Jane whacked him on the arm with her notepad.
‘Someone’s getting their self-confidence back.’
‘A reluctant babe magnet, that’s me.’
Jane was still laughing, to Hall’s slight annoyance, when Superintendent Robinson walked in to the room. He inclined his head towards Hall’s office, and Hall followed him in.
‘I’ll tell the other Inspectors as soon as I can, Andy, so I’d like you to treat this as confidential for a day or so, but I’m taking a redundancy package. The Chief has been very generous, and it will save a lot of embarrassment for everyone.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that, sir.’
‘Are you, Andy? I’ve always thought that you’re probably the kind of person who’s polite at the expense of honesty, and I suppose that’s my proof. Anyway, it’s simple enough. The report says that Alison Thornton’s appointment as a Special happened in breach of due process, and that it was entirely my fault.’
‘But perhaps she would have got in anyway, via the usual process. It’s unfair to blame you for what happened afterwards.’
‘That’s naïve, Andy, and you know it. Anyway, when you throw in the fact that we’re almost certain that she accessed the file when I left my safe open then you can see that I was done for anyway. Val Gorham didn’t even have to undermine me. I was already dead in the water.’
‘Are you sorry to be going?’
‘I’d hoped for one more promotion, a bit of a bump to the old pension, you know. But no, I’ll not be sorry. All these cuts have made it a harder place to be a manager, all those tough decisions to make, you see. They crowd in on you after a while.’
‘Any idea who we’ll get in your place?’
Robinson smiled. ‘Nothing is official as yet, but I think I can say with total confidence that Val Gorham will be the next station commander in Kendal.’
‘I see. Thanks for letting me know, sir.’
‘Not a bit of it. I won’t ask what you think of that appointment, Andy, because as of a few days time it won’t be any of my business anyway. And I’m sure you wouldn’t offer an opinion anyway.’
‘Would anyone listen if I did, sir?’
Robinson looked at him levelly. ‘Can I ask you something, off the record? Why haven’t you gone for promotion? At best you’re going to end your career as a DCI, and you’ve got the intelligence and ability to have gone all the way to the very top, in a big force too. So why didn’t you? Was it all the politics? Goodness knows I’ve never enjoyed all that.’
Hall’s face remained as impassive as ever.
‘Partly personal reasons, sir, because my kids love it here. But if I’m honest my reasons were entirely selfish. I just like being a detective. When I make a good guess, or put evidence together in a way that takes us somewhere, then I get pleasure from that, and I want that feeling again. It’s nothing to do with doing good, or even fulfilling a useful social function, it’s a purely personal pleasure. And promotion much beyond my current rank would mean that I’d get to feel that sensation less and less often. That’s why anyway.’
Robinson thought about it for a moment.
‘I envy you that, I must say. I can’t remember the last time I really enjoyed a day at work.’ He paused. ‘But come on, a clever man like you could have done all sorts of other things with his life. So you must feel that you’re doing something useful.’
Hall nodded. ‘Up to a point. But, speaking for myself, I don’t think I really have that selflessness gene. I’d do anything for my family, for my children anyway, but that’s not quite the same thing, that’s just biology. And we’re all driven by that, no matter what constructs we erect to give our lives meaning.’
‘Was that a dig, Andy? It doesn’t matter if it was, and I suppose in your eyes I’m already just a former colleague who you’ll say ‘hello’ to in the street, so what I believe doesn’t matter.
But it gives me comfort.’
‘Each to their own, sir.’
Robinson nodded. ‘But let me give you one piece of advice before I go, Andy. Be very careful when Val Gorham gets here. Word is she has a couple of followers at HQ who she’s looking to get in here, including a DI from out west. I’d be very careful if I were you.’
‘About something specific, sir?’
‘Yes, your relationship with DC Francis. That could be seen as inappropriate. Have you thought about moving her?’
‘If Jane wants to move I won’t stand in her way, sir, but she hasn’t expressed any desire to move role or station. And I would never seek to move her just because we’re involved in a relationship.’
‘But what if it were to end?’
‘It’s barely begun so far.’
Robinson got up. ‘And that’s why you’ll end your days as a DI, Andy. You just don’t plan ahead, cover the angles. Anyway, good luck to you.’
Robinson made no move to get up.
‘Was there something else? Would you like an update on the Alison Thornton investigation?’
‘If you feel that you can brief me.’
‘Of course I can. The trail has gone cold. We’re almost certain that she didn’t have any outside help, so she did a pretty good job. We now know that she had false plates made in Penrith, and that’s how she got to Scotland without being spotted on ANPR. And of course by the time we did find the car she was long gone. It was neat actually.’
‘So where is she now?’
‘Your guess is as good as mine. I very much doubt that she’s thrown in her lot with Cafferty’s crew, because she must know that they’d kill her without a second thought. So my guess is that she’s trying to fly solo.’
‘What a mess. And even if we manage to catch her you don’t think we’ll be able to charge Cafferty subsequently?’
‘Not a prayer, sir. The best we could hope for is that Murphy would walk the plank for his boss, because you can bet your pension that he won’t say a word. Not ever. Conspiracy to murder and fifteen years wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference to Murphy. He’d just do the time. Every day of it if he had to.’